1. Daily Living Plan: Make sure the assisted living or senior living facility offers lots of activities that allow residents to be active. They should include great socializing events, exercise classes, educational seminars, religious services, and outings.
2. Medical Staff: Check to see who the resident geriatrician is and what credentials the nurses have. There should be an ambulance service and a quality hospital nearby with the patients’ medical charts. Also check to see that menus are approved by a nutritionist;
3. Talk to residents!!!!: Ask current residents for their opinion on the facility and services. You can get the best information for the residents! The will tell you the good and the bad of the place.
4. Room Accomidations and Facility Basics: Make sure the facility has showers with moveable showerheads, handrails, good lighting, emergency electricity generators, emergency help buttons and adequate personnel.

Shares of Emeritus fell 15 percent today. The shares dropped from $1.56 to $8.82, their lowest level in four years. Emeritus is a nationwide provider of assisted senior housing also reported a third-quarter loss of $23.1 million.

The Seattle company, one of the largest in its field, wasn’t the only senior housing company battered by the market. Leading competitors Sunrise Senior Living and Brookdale Senior Living fell 21 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

Emeritus’ third-quarter revenue of $193 million was up from $187 million in the second quarter, while its net loss shrank from the second-quarter loss of $25.2 million.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. shares lost more than a third of their value Thursday, plunging for a second-straight day in the wake of weak third-quarter results.

Stock in the nation’s largest provider of senior-care facilities fell $3.43, or 36.5 percent, to close at $5.96, after sinking as low as $5.89, the lowest level in Brookdale’s three years as a publicly traded company.

On Wednesday, the stock lost 15.5 percent, to finish at $9.39.Analysts raised questions about the company’s balance sheet and cost pressures and suggested its difficulties are likely to continue into 2009.

source: associated press

A form of vitamin B3, Nicotinamide has been found to get rid of Alzheimer’s disease-related memory problems in lab mice, according to new research. Vitamin B3 is available over the counter at a low price.

The study showed that when mice that were bred to exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer’s received the human equivalent of two or three grams of B3, they acted as if they had never developed the disease, said one University of California researcher.

The vitamin acts in the brain to clear tau “tangles,” of Alzheimer’s disease. While the vitamins are available over the counter and are relatively safe, researchers warn that high doses such as the ones used in the study could potentially be dangerous. Researchers are currently enlisting people for human trials. Their research appears in the November 5 online version of the Journal of Neuroscience.

McCain’s top advisers this week said that as president, McCain would cut $1.3 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid. McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin told the Wall Street Journal, McCain would pay for the high costs of his health care proposal by taking a hatchet to health care coverage for the elderly, people with disabilities and lower-income families. A Center for American Progress study finds that McCain’s plan would force big cuts in benefits or eligibility for these vulnerable populations.

McCain’s call for radical cuts to Medicare and Medicaid will undermine their vital role in our health care system, putting affordable health care out of reach for millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families, and driving up the cost of health insurance for everyone else.

And why does the McCain campaign support undermining this pillar of retirement security? To pay for a “tax credit” in McCain’s health care plan that amounts to a subsidy for big insurance companies. (Maybe McCain thinks the $2 billion in tax cuts he would give the insurance companies isn’t enough.)

Sunrise Senior Living Inc. lost nearly a quarter of their value Monday and hit a seven-year low.The drop came against the backdrop of a steep market sell-off.

The company’s stock fell $2.55, or 19 percent, to $10.85. Earlier in the session, the stock sank to $9.51, a level not seen since April 2001. The shares have lost more than a third of their value in the past month and are down nearly 60 percent in 2008.

Analyst Derrick Dagnan of Avondale Partners said the company’s stock decline evidently exceeded that of other senior living companies because of ongoing concerns that it is not as sound as some of its peers.

“A lot of that has to do with the company’s emerging from a period where they just restated two years’ worth of accounting results and filed statements that had been past due,” Dognan said. “Management’s done a great job of getting this company back on track, but there are still a lot of questions.”

He cited issues involving its development project in Germany, significant writedowns and poor performances by its hospice and development businesses.

Sunrise on Sept. 10 reported a $31.8 million loss for the second quarter and said it had scaled back its planned openings of new centers to between 1,200 to 1,400 units from an earlier target of 3,200 to 3,400 units. It also wrote off $10.5 million of costs relating to discontinued development projects during the quarter.

The administrator of Specialty LifeCare Service, an assisted living facility in Kernville, was charged Tuesday with stealing $50,600 from a 91-year-old resident’s bank account.

Debra Zilch, 42, of the 900 block of Belmont Street, voluntarily appeared for arraignment before District Judge Michael Musulin on charges of theft, receiving stolen property and forgery.

She was released on $25,000 recognizance bond. A preliminary hearing will be held Sept. 30.

Zilch allegedly stole a checkbook from the resident’s room and began writing checks to herself, a Cambria County detective, alleged in an affidavit.

Detective Kevin Price charged that Zilch wrote 20 checks between May 21 and Aug. 6 in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $6,000.

Zilch, who is part-owner of the facility at 429 Napoleon St., said she had taken a voluntary leave from her duties.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. I will repay the money. I am not a mean person,” she said in a telephone interview.

She did not discuss a motive for taking the money. She said that she is hiring a Johnstown attorney to represent her in the case.

Zilch allegedly admitted going into the resident’s room and taking what the man described as an old checkbook from a drawer. The resident told Price and Jennifer Anderson, an investigator from the Area Agency on Aging, that he had given no one, including Zilch, permission to write checks or take money from his account.

The man revealed that she had talked with him a few days before he was interviewed by the investigators and admitted she took his money.

At that time, she signed a note that was notarized by another woman, agreeing to pay him back at the rate of $2,000 a month.

“I have apologized and explained my situation. (The resident) graciously forgave me for my wrongdoing,” Zilch said in the signed note.

The theft came to light after another resident reported to the aging agency in early September that someone had stolen a large amount of money from a resident’s checking account, Price said.

It was learned during the investigation that First National Bank – where the man had his money – had notified the resident that his checking account had been overdrawn.

Price credited the agency investigator and the bank with bringing the alleged theft to the attention of the district attorney’s office.

Sunrise Senior Living, one of the largest providers of senior living services
with more than 440 communities worldwide, announced today that it is bringing
an innovative independent senior living community to Colorado’s Front Range.
The Stratford at FlatIrons leverages Sunrise’s nearly three decades of serving
seniors by combining this expertise with a distinguishing approach to senior
living that will offer residents and their families the type of active,
fulfilling lifestyle they have come to expect.  While Sunrise currently
operates 10 assisted living communities in the state, this is the first
independent living community that will also offer assisted living and a full
range of healthcare services.

The Stratford, to be located at 400 Summit Blvd., in the popular FlatIrons
area, is a full-service, amenity-rich senior living community.  Through its
broad offering of services and amenities, coupled with on-site assisted
living, memory care programs, rehabilitation and in-home health care
coordination, The Stratford will be well positioned to cater to seniors with
varying needs.

With about 130 employees, The Stratford will feature a Southwestern motif
and mountain-like design.  The community is set to debut in May 2009 and
recently opened its sales gallery at 549 FlatIron Blvd., Unit B in Broomfield,
80021, (303) 466-2422.  At the sales gallery, visitors can view floor plans
and learn more about the broad range of features and amenities that can be
found at The Stratford, including:

– Concierge services to assist residents with requests such as dining and
entertainment reservations, transportation arrangements, appointment
reminders, dog walking, personal errands and much more

– Maintenance and housekeeping services

– State-of-art fitness center and personal training as well as in-home
exercise programming

– Full-service spa and salon
– A 60-seat theatre for movies and theatrical performances
– Art Studio
– Casual and formal dining venues including a bistro bar
– In-room food service
– Private dining rooms and catering for parties and events
– Extensive library
– Club and game room
– Business Center and wireless internet access areas
– In-home care coordination and support services
– Geriatric case management
– Outpatient rehabilitation clinic

 

In addition to on-site assisted living, memory care and in-home health
care coordination, The Stratford will also offer rehabilitation services;
comprehensive health and wellness programs, which include screenings, support
groups and wellness lectures; 24-hour voice-to-voice emergency response
systems; and 24-hour security monitoring.

“The Stratford at FlatIrons is an exciting, new community for Sunrise
whereby we are integrating our long-standing experience as a pioneer in senior
living with a full menu of exceptional amenities, personalized services and a
host of life-enriching options for residents — all of which will be
seamlessly offered under one roof.  We believe The Stratford is a community
that seniors and their families will find exciting, appealing and comfortable.
The Stratford is distinguishing itself in the marketplace based on its ability
to cater to independent seniors who take comfort in knowing that they have the
opportunity to live life on their own terms at this full-service, all-
encompassing community,” explained Jennifer Teague, executive director for The
Stratford.